(Opinion) Here's some thoughts on the game, and that ending.

[brasch]

I was originally going to write a full-fledged review for the game, but I decided to just scribble my thoughts down here and see what happens. Of course this contains spoilers, so if you haven't beaten the game yet, or seen it yet, you know what to do.

Without further ado, let's dive into this.

Before I get into the ending...

I'm more of a newcomer to this series. I had heard about it before a few times in the now distant past, but I got into it in April after I watch a playthrough of THH. Needless to say, I really liked the game, even though I do have some issues with it (some cases were not so good, 1-3 in particular), some characters were bland ( cough Hifumi & Leon cough ), and some writing was just not too good. The reason I found it intriguing is because of the concept and everything. It was just interesting, some of the characters seemed really cool (such as Byakuya and Celeste), and I love a good murder mystery. Oh, and the soundtrack is awesome, there's that.

I then bought the game and the second one about a month later, and the second one blew my mind. It was, in my opinion, fantastic. While it did have some issues, as no game is perfect, it was a bloody good experience. The cast of Goodbye Despair was extremely entertaining (Gundham and Ibuki being two of my favourites in particular, while the only person I disliked somewhat being Hiyoko for obvious reasons), the gameplay was better, the music was also a step up, and the cases were mostly consistant and highly interesting. Also was more light-hearted compared to the dark and dreary mood of the first game. Simply, a great video game.

Now, here we have Killing Harmony, the main topic here. And, well, I really liked it as well. Let's talk about why I did.

Why I really enjoyed Killing Harmony

I'm just going to say this right off the bat: the gameplay, music, and artstyle here is the best in the series. The gameplay during the class trials is seriously overworked and really fun, the Debate Scrums being my favourite new addition (the concept is awesome, the music is kick-ass, and it's just really cool).

The music is also really good, with my favourites being Darkness Time, REAL/FICTION, and the Debate Scrum music of course. And the artstyle is just better, can't really say much else there.

Next off, the characters. I went into the game expecting a better cast than THH's, but I knew it probably wouldn't be as good as GD's. And, I got what I expected. Most of these new characters (specifically, 14 out of 16 of them) were quite good, for me. I really enjoyed the dynamic between Shuichi, Kaito, and Maki, because I felt that it provided for something a little different compared to the chemistry between Makoto and Kyoko from the first game, and the chemistry between Hajime and Chiaki in the second. It felt a little more, I don't know, personal?

I also enjoyed other characters a lot, like Gonta and his sweetness, Miu and her, while at times overbearing, hilarious "big promises, but all talk" persona, and Korekiyo, because of his genuinely unsettling way of speech and his interesting talent (However, I cannot excuse that incest stuff. Made me gag.). Kaede was also good for the time that she was alive, same with Rantaro. I kinda wish they lived longer, because Rantaro was seriously interesting to me, and I liked Kaede, even though she could come off like a Mary Sue at some parts.

My favourite character from this whole cast, however, was Kokichi. Every moment this dude was on screen was always hectic, and was just a lot of fun. While he isn't as memorable and interesting as the deranged and unpredictable Nagito, he is quite a bit better than the dickish Byakuya. Besides, Byakuya changes for the better in the end. He also embodies the theme of the game: truth vs. lie. We'll talk about that soon.

Simply put, I really liked the characters.

The writing, at times, is also pretty good. Yes, it does have some flaws, it really does, but it's not unspeakably bad the whole game, no no.

This may be an opinion which many don't share, but I personally enjoyed all the cases. 3-1 was more interesting than I thought it would be (although I called the whole Kaede thing a while before the trial), 3-2 was probably my favourite (I predicted it was Kirumi, but I wasn't sure until halfway through), 3-3 was utterly bonkers, but I really liked it for some reason (Bloody seesaw), 3-4 surprisingly made me really sad (Poor Gonta), and 3-5 was a trip. All of them had their good parts.

Alright, I think that about covers it for the positives and such, but before I get to the ending, a few negatives I have to share.

-The Monokubs are practically useless. Found them more annoying than funny. I'd take Monomi/Usami over them any day. That's all I have to say there.
-Chapter 4 was kinda badly paced before the whole Virtual World stuff, then it got interesting.
-Some of the deaths were honestly too predictable. Tenko being an example. Ryoma was also kinda predictable, but I wasn't too sure until the magic show happened. That surprised the hell out of me. Also, Korekiyo was a very obvious killer, but that's whatever.
-Hangman's Gambit honestly just isn't that interesting to me. Feels like a chore.

Alright, that's all the pros and cons I have to list. But now, it's time to tread into more tricky territory: the ending.

So, the ending exists. Let's talk about this.

Holy man, this ending. Such a controversial one, isn't it? I've seen people applaud it for being "brave", I've seen people trash the entire game because of it, I have even seen a man compare it to the ending of Mass Effect 3. However, I don't think it's as bad as that.

So, from what it seems to tell us, everything is fiction. None of it ever happened. The characters' personalities were fabrications, and the killing games were watched by several fans and such, etc. I can see how people would be upset by this, as many have said that Kazutaka Kodaka (creator of Danganronpa) invalidated the whole series, or didn't know what he was doing. Personally, I think that Kodaka knew what he was doing, and had some good ideas, but the way he executed them here was honestly underwhelming and quite flawed.

I predicted that the whole Gofer Project thing was a little too good to be true, as it felt, y'know, fabricated. I also had a theory that the whole game was a TV show, but I never expected it to be on the scale that it was.

But here's my direct, exact opinion on the ending, no beating around the bush: it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. It took me a lot of thinking to make up my mind about it, because, when the game ended, and Shuichi, Himiko, and Maki survived, I wasn't exactly sure what to think. I didn't feel betrayed, or angry like some were, I was simply confused. I got the "Fiction can change the world" message, though. These characters may be fictional in that world, and while they are fictional here as well, they can leave an impact on us. Several examples of fiction that have influenced culture: Star Wars, Harry Potter, Pokemon, etc. I know that may not exactly be what the message was, but that's what I got out of it.

Also, I'm just glad the mastermind was someone like Tsumugi, and not Junko again. I might have found Junko entertaining in THH, and funny as hell in GD (although I was hoping for something else compared to an AI version of her), but honestly, you'd get tired of someone like her after 2 games.

I don't think it's a bad ending, but it's nowhere near perfect.

Just before I wrap this up, I guess I'll talk about the truth vs. lie theme of this game. I liked it, and it was different. While the lie bullet mechanic was a little odd for me, I didn't find it that grating. I feel that the whole hope vs. despair thing was wrapped up in GD, and I was wishing for something new in this game, and I got that.

The games have differing themes, although hope vs. despair is most prevelent in THH and GD. THH is obviously about hope vs. despair, GD is about hope vs. despair, while also survival and friendship, and KH is about truth vs. lies. These are grounded and realistic themes in the real world, and I like that.

So, what did I think in the end?

I stand by my opinion that Killing Harmony is a great game, but a flawed one. It's better than Trigger Happy Havoc for me because of the overall music, gameplay, characters, etc. However, Goodbye Despair will probably always be my favourite of the series, no matter how you slice it. Killing Harmony's ending is certainly one that rustled a lot of feathers, and it did leave me confused for a while, but honestly, it's not as bad as people are saying, I personally think. Overall, probably an 8.5/10, even though that may be generous.

If you read this all the way to the end, thank you. I feel that I rambled a little too much, but I tried to get my thoughts down quickly and I wanted to be as honest as I could be. Feel free to comment below and express your thoughts, and maybe give your own two cents on the ending and such, even though most people have already discussed it. Please, be civil, though.

Have a good day, people.

[Battler Ushiromiya]

I can definitely see where you're coming from. I myself think the ending is great, but I can see why you don't have any particular feelings towards it

[Puppet33r]

Here's another opinion: I hated the ending. There are 2 ways to interpret it:

1. Everything that we were told at the end was truth. It invalidates previous games. And the "fiction matters" excuse just doesn't fit here as justification. As it usually implies that the writer inspired someone. And here he just crossed the entire franchise off.
2. Everything Tsumugi told us was a lie. It seems much more likely as there are some rather fat transparent hints about it at the end of the game. This interpretation, while not so hopeless, was just really badly executed. In order to pull off a great open ending you need to give some food for thought about what would these hints imply. Here, we just got a bunch of inconsistencies that could be taken anywhere if the author decides to make the next installment.

Both of these interpretations are bad for their own reasons. And I believe the author even made a tweet that DRV3 has no ending. And well...no ending is bad ending.

Another thing that really was rustling my jimmies throughout 3,5 games and I need to vent about was: lazy/bad writing getting covered up by breaking 4th wall and stating it out loud that it is bad/lazy. I'm not against occasional 4th wall breaking. It is a cute joke to make once...maybe twice. But this guy just doesn't know when to stop. And the worst part is that he was making these jokes at the most important moments: the endings. In DR1 it was excessive exposition at the end, in DR2 it was the villain just turning up out of nowhere to be the same as in first game with 0 hints about it in the main game, DR3: main villain stating how plain she is. And let's be real that villain was the worst part of the ending. According to version 1 she was just some middle management and just doing her job. According to version 2...well we don't even know the details of her cospox to draw any conclusions there.

The writer really should've at least strongly committed to one version instead of this weak sauce and planned ahead.

[Battler Ushiromiya]

I fail to see how it invalidates previous games. How does something being fiction invalidate previous games when we already know it's fiction? What matters is that it's important BECAUSE it's fiction.

Also, there are far more possibilities in between the two. There are various possibilities where she tells the truth about some things and lies about others.

Those aren't breaking the fourth wall. Tsumugi saying she's plain doesn't break the fourth wall. Kodaka breaks it a lot, but those aren't examples of it. And besides, it's not as though breaking the fourth wall a lot/having an ambiguous ending by itself makes it bad. Umineko is a perfect example of this. I like the ending, sure, but it probably could have been executed a lot better.

There was a tweet about that, as I recall. He said that he figured that the ending might get backlack for various reasons, but he didn't care, he just wanted to write the story how he wanted to write it.

[Puppet33r]

There's a reason nobody likes "it was all a dream" endings and "it was all fiction" is even worse as those aren't even personal experiences of the protagonists that they would grow upon.

Like I said. I don't mind 4th wall breaking. I love deadpool. My point was that it is not okay to cover up bad/lazy writing with a lazy joke that states that this writing is bad/lazy. Whether it is technically a 4th wall breaking or not is irrelevant in this case.

And that ambiguity is my main issue with the ending. It looks like they didn't have the next author locked in at the time and the current one just made the ending that could go anywhere his successor would decide to take it. Which is a great move professionally but a very bad one for people actually playing the game as they got no conclusion to the story. Yeah they blew up a dome and saw some angry commenters flame team danganronpa but what of it? Tsumugi was just some middle manager. Who was controling monokuma/monokubs? Why did the person in control let the first kill slide? Not even a slightest hint.

And I was referring to a very specific tweet where he says that it has no ending. There it is:
https://twitter.com/kazkodaka/status/919031812369682432?lang=en

[ketrub]

IMO, the meta concept would be better if they just did what DR2 did with the "Cuz it's a game!" but instead of it being Neo World Program, they would've just been told that someone is playing it right now.

That would have allowed them a better use of the minigames (since just not playing the minigames was kinda stupid, even though I liked the idea), that would have allowed them to explain that Tsumugi is lying about the Hope's Peak timeline never happening (since the game hints at that very sloppily), and they could even add more of that cheap shock value DRV3 really seems to like.

(btw i played this on a vita, was going to rebuy the franchise on PC but i think i'll pass on V3)